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Using modern genetic approaches, a team of researchers has provided strong support for the long-standing, but hotly debated, evolutionary theory of kin selection, which suggests that altruistic behavior occurs as a way to pass genes to the next generation.

DALLAS, Jan. 11, 2016 -- Even small reductions in kidney function are associated with heart and blood vessel damage, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension.

DALLAS, Jan. 11, 2016--Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages every day was associated with an increase in a particular type of body fat that may affect diabetes and heart disease risk, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.

Data from the Framingham Heart Study -- federally supported, ongoing research that has advanced the understanding of cardiovascular disease -- showed that among middle-aged adults, there was a direct correlation between greater sweetened beverage consumption and increased visceral fat.

Montreal, January 11 2016 - Guilt-free sugary treats may be on the horizon. Scientists at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) have discovered an enzyme that can stop the toxic effects of sugar in various organs of the body. This enzyme, named glycerol 3-phosphate phosphatase (G3PP), plays a central role in controlling glucose and fat utilization.

A hormone that extends lifespan in mice by 40% is produced by specialized cells in the thymus gland, according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers. The team also found that increasing the levels of this hormone, called FGF21, protects against the loss of immune function that comes with age.

Published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Jan. 11, the study's findings have future implications for improving immune function in the elderly, for obesity, and for illnesses such as cancer and type-2 diabetes.

For half a century, cancer researchers have struggled with a confusing paradox: If cancer is caused by the occurrence and accumulation of cancer-causing (oncogenic) mutations over time, young children should get less cancer as they have fewer mutations. Why then do young children have a higher incidence of leukemia than teenagers and young adults?

The domestication of dogs may have inadvertently caused harmful genetic changes, a UCLA-led study suggests.

Domesticating dogs from gray wolves more than 15,000 years ago involved artificial selection and inbreeding, but the effects of these processes on dog genomes have been little-studied.

A team of Northwestern University engineers has created a new way to print three-dimensional metallic objects using rust and metal powders.

While current methods rely on vast metal powder beds and expensive lasers or electron beams, Northwestern's new technique uses liquid inks and common furnaces, resulting in a cheaper, faster, and more uniform process. The Northwestern team also demonstrated that the new method works for an extensive variety of metals, metal mixtures, alloys, and metal oxides and compounds.

(Monday, January 11, 2016 - Toronto) - A quick screening method has been used for the first time in a standard open laboratory to identify and test promising anti-Ebola drugs. This approach increases the possibility of finding new therapies faster.

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the University of Würzburg in Germany have identified a protein interaction that is a hallmark of an aggressive subtype of medulloblastoma and that may provide a new treatment strategy. The research appears today in the scientific journal Cancer Cell.

In 2006, scientists discovered that some of the world's most common disease-causing bacteria wield a uniquely powerful weapon that can kill targeted cells -- both other bacterial cells and membrane-enclosed eukaryotic cells -- by injecting them with toxic proteins.

Having confirmed the first cases of infection in Suriname then in French Guiana, the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana has sequenced the complete genome of the Zika virus, which is responsible for an unprecedented epidemic currently sweeping through the tropical regions of the Americas. Published in The Lancet medical journal, the analysis of this sequence shows almost complete homology with the strains responsible for the epidemic that occurred in the Pacific in 2013 and 2014.

An adaptive material invented at Rice University combines self-healing and reversible self-stiffening properties.

The Rice material called SAC (for self-adaptive composite) consists of what amounts to sticky, micron-scale rubber balls that form a solid matrix. The researchers made SAC by mixing two polymers and a solvent that evaporates when heated, leaving a porous mass of gooey spheres. When cracked, the matrix quickly heals, over and over. And like a sponge, it returns to its original form after compression.

The dramatic video footage of a great white shark attacking the "REMUS SharkCam" autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) brought some of the highest ratings to Discovery Channel's Shark Week 2014 and went viral on the Internet.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (http://www.ucr.edu) -- Backyard chickens may not live as good of a life as most people think.